


Will We Ever Meet

by Amberly



Series: Just Like Heaven [27]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: M/M, Miscarriage mention, Present Tense, Tense Change, trouble adopting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26036584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amberly/pseuds/Amberly
Summary: It was almost Christmas and the gift they’d both asked for was set to make an appearance any minute. Any hour. They were just waiting on the call, and that, Wufei knew, was the hardest part. Was filling his husband with coils of anxiety, looping around each other and holding him hostage, keeping him trudging outside. With a sigh, he left the back porch, covering frozen hands with his own.
Relationships: Chang Wufei/Duo Maxwell
Series: Just Like Heaven [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/405643
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11





	Will We Ever Meet

**Author's Note:**

> I want to stress that this fic swirls around heavily the difficulties of adopting, trying to conceive, and generally trying to start a family. I promise it has a happy ending, but I don't want anyone who's struggling with that to get in to this without knowing that first, and foremost. 
> 
> This is intended to be the last chronological installment in Just Like Heaven. As in: this "ends" the story. We'll see how that goes. There are still PLENTY of fics coming. I actually sat down with a good friend and sketched what I have out and it was a massive help to me, so you might be getting some of them sooner than I planned. 
> 
> If you want Feelings on Feeling, turn on Halsey's "Mine" for this one.

For the third day in a row Duo paced. Walked from one end of the garden to the other with his hands fisted tightly behind his back, shoulders hunched. One and a half wars and it took becoming a father to leave him trembling and pale, making nervous pathways in the fresh December snow. It was almost Christmas and the gift they’d both asked for was set to make an appearance any minute. Any hour. They were just waiting on the call, and that, Wufei knew, was the hardest part. Was filling his husband with coils of anxiety, looping around each other and holding him hostage, keeping him trudging outside. With a sigh, he left the back porch, covering frozen hands with his own.

“She’ll call.”

“I know.”

“Everything is fine.”

“I _know.”_

“Then why are you out here? We could be finishing the nursery. The crib doesn’t have sheets yet. Heero’s quilt just came out of the wash.” Wufei waited a beat, and then continued, saving the best for last. “I could make us hot chocolate. We could put on one of your Christmas records.” Beneath his hands he felt Duo relax. Felt all the pent up tension drain away to leave familiar calluses behind, fingers twining with his as his husband shot him a small, crooked smile. 

“That sounds nice,” Duo admitted, thumb brushing over the back of his hand. 

“It does.” Wufei squeezed his hands again and then tugged. Drew him inside and to the nursery they’d already spent so much time in. There was a mural on one wall, a jungle scene Duo’d hand painted with Trowa. It was calm, the other walls green and blue striped. Calm, soothing, and perfect. Everything they’ve wanted for years in barely 130 square feet. There was a changing table and a crib and a basket of fresh sheets, the tiny square of a blanket Heero had quilted together on top. Duo moved without thought. Picked up a sheet and took it to the crib, to the waiting mattress. Wufei moved with him, stepping into place across from him. They stretched the sheet out together, tucked in the corners. 

They worked in silence. Made the bed and fluffed stuffed animals, checked the carefully folded clothing in the dresser. Took stock of diapers and wipes and creams and tried hard not to think about how many times they’d already done this. The adoptions that had fallen through, last minute. The surrogates who had changed their mind, or miscarried. Five years and a lifetime ago, the night Duo had quietly confessed that he wanted a family, a memory almost as distant as the destruction of his colony and just as emotional, a confession of unworthiness Wufei had soothed the best he could. The smile that answered his agreement lit the darkness, setting them on a journey they were close to giving up on. 

“Hot chocolate?” Duo asked, shooting Wufei a hopeful look, interrupting his thoughts. With a nod of his head, Wufei took his hand once more. Led the way into the kitchen. This was the last try. Wufei had made that clear. He couldn’t carry his own heartbreak anymore, couldn’t watch the way Duo closed off every time, opening only after his grieving was done. They both wanted it, had both fought it in different ways, for different reasons. To come so close to parenthood each time only to lose it was a wound that only grew, eating away at them as each fresh hope was dashed. 

“Do you want to put that album on now?” Wufei glanced up, carefully stirring the hot milk on the stove. Duo nodded, then paused. Made his way around the island to wrap his arms around Wufei’s waist, resting his chin on his shoulder and holding him against his chest, settling into the warmth between them.

“Thank you.” It was soft, Duo’s cheek scratchy against his. Lips quirking in a smile, Wufei turned his head so he could plant a kiss on his jaw. His husband was distracted, and they both knew it. Still, they did what they could: drink hot chocolate in their living room, in front of the fire, listening to old records of crooned Christmas music. Wait, together, in the home they’d created out of love and all their broken parts made whole. Duo pressed his own kiss to Wufei’s cheek and headed away. After a few moments, he heard ‘White Christmas’ start, Bing Crosby crooning softly as Wufei brought the hot chocolate into the living room.

Duo is white and staring at him, phone in hand. 

“She’s--” Wufei’s stomach drops in time with the mugs. Duo curses and crosses and takes his trembling hands, a slow smile blooming over his face. There is hot chocolate on his feet, in his socks, and he can’t breathe. He stares at Duo with wide black eyes, fingers curling around his wrists. 

“She’s here.” 

His inhale feels like the first breath he’s ever taken. It fills his lungs, weights him down and puts him back in his body. He can feel Duo’s hands, can feel Duo’s skin under his fingertips. He is fully in himself and he laughs, disbelieving. 

“She is.” It’s a statement and a prayer and Duo nods in response. Reaches up one calloused hand to cradle his jaw, thumb brushing over his cheekbone. Wufei covers it with his own and nods, and then they move as one. 

Wufei grabs the bag they have waiting by the door and Duo’s already palming the keys and they’re on their way. Racing along the back roads to the highway, the highway to the city and then through one way city streets still slick with snow. Duo takes a corner too fast, wheels skidding just enough to leave Wufei reaching for him, hand on his arm. Holding tight as he stabilizes the car, breath caught as he thinks of all the things that have lead them to this moment. All of the nights they spent, together and separate, thinking they’d never have a family. That they’d never have a daughter, nestled in their arms or laughing through their halls. Duo’s hand touches his and they are steady. They are pulling into the hospital, parking, racing up the drive.

It’s Relena who meets them. She looks exhausted and amazed, still wearing dirty scrubs. They hug her anyway. Duo’s laughter is high and thready, fracturing on the walls. Wufei is just as giddy, face split by his grin, following Relena with his hand tight in Duo’s. They are not quite running, the sound of their shoes lost in the din of hospital noise, the hushed frantic noises of first ER and then labor and delivery. His hand tightens on Duo’s and Duo brings it up. Brushes his lips against the back of it as he moves closer to him without thought, their shoulders brushing as they walk. As they step together through this milestone, through this major change in their life. They way they have every step, whether they knew it or not. 

“Just in here,” Relena ushers them into a small, private room and points to one of the chairs. “One of you sit down and take your shirt off. Hilde is resting, but I can bring Mei out.” 

“Wu first.” 

Wufei blinks.

“Duo, you--” 

“I couldn’t have done this without you.” It’s firm, Duo’s violet eyes blazing, an emotion that is part devotion and part something so deep it almost scares him. Would scare him, if he hadn’t been married to it for six years. His hands are so tight on Wufei’s it almost hurts, grounding him. Keeping him _here_ and _now._ “If it weren’t for you--Fei, this would’ve been Hell, without you.” He nods, distantly. Slowly strips off his sweater and sits in the chair. Hilde is resting. Hilde, who carried their child. The one who offered space in her body, and now. Wufei trembles as he looks at Duo.

“I’m right here,” Duo says, kneeling next to him, reaching to hold one of his hands. “We’re meeting her together. That’s what matters.” 

“Our daughter. Our Mei.” 

The door opens. Relena is holding a tiny bundle in a striped blanket. It’s one Wufei’d bought, passing it on to her when Hilde named her as the person she wanted in the room. Another woman, one who’d birthed her own babies. Wufei understood. Wufei was struggling to think, gripped by terror and wonder. He catches Duo’s eyes with his own and looks away. Watches as Relena walks towards him with a smile and leans in, leans down.

“She needs skin to skin,” she tells him. Wufei nods. He knows this. He reaches for the baby automatically, Duo’s hand shifting out of his. There’s an arm around his shoulder and a baby against his chest. She’s warm, her hair dark. Black. But the tip to her nose is all Duo, and Wufei feels his heart constrict. Whispers a faint prayer to whatever science Quatre found to let them do this. To let them combine themselves in to the tiny human he has against his chest. 

“She’s tiny.” 

“She is. She has your lips.” 

“My lips?” Wufei is surprised. He looks at the baby in shock. Duo, he supposes, would know. Duo laughs, again, wet and thready, his forehead resting against his shoulder. When Mei blinks her eyes open, they’re violet, a shade so familiar his heart stops. There’s a hitch of breath against his shoulder, a long, calloused finger reaching out to brush over her cheek. 

“She’s us.” It’s awed. Full of a wonder, the tremor in his voice matching the tremor in his hands. Wufei swallows.

“Yes. She is.” He closes his eyes and exhales, the years of loss and yearning melting as the warmth of his daughter settles against his chest. His husband still around his shoulder. Wufei turns his head and smiles, watching Duo watch the baby. Watching Duo stroke one finger along her cheek, following the slope of her nose. She stares seriously back at them for several moments and then sighs, closing her eyes. It’s the close of one chapter and the open of another. A miracle lies on his chest and when Duo shifts, drawing off his own shirt, Wufei is only happy to move. To stand and wrap an arm around Duo’s waist. They’re drawn together around the new life between them, skin on skin, holding each other, complete. 

**Author's Note:**

> The first time I heard Halsey's "Mine" I cried for about an hour. It took me a long, long time to admit to myself that all the time I spent saying I didn't want children was my way of--rejecting something I thought I was never going to get anyway. While I wanted to do something with Wufei and Duo starting a family, the perfect storm of those feelings + that song + my sister finding out that she's pregnant after three years of trying hit me hard and told me exactly what kind of story I was going to write.


End file.
